Retention Features
Lead Technical Designer
Ubisoft, Rocksmith+ (2024), Snowdrop Engine
After launch, players feedback showed people felt overwhelmed by our library, expressing uncertainty on what to do next. They were spending too much time browsing menus relative to actual gameplay.
In response to this, I advocated for implementation of a more ‘gamified’ menu flow. I convinced the team the approach would be successful by presenting compelling competitive analysis and a concise game doc proposal.
Competitive Analysis
There are no direct market competitors that use gamified mechanics, however there are plenty of ‘real-world-habit-forming ‘ apps that we could reference! Noom, Duolingo, and Finch are just a few of the many examples I looked at.
I identified a common flow pattern across apps, the details diverge slightly depending on the needs and capabilities of the product, but the basic loop can be boiled down as follows:
Streak Pop-up on Login which exits to a Home page providing Calls to Action with quick access to both the high investment Main Path and a generative Daily Task List providing bit-sized and immediately actionable goals. Both options culminate in a Rewards screen followed directly by another Call to Action allowing players to quickly access the next suggested activity.
See above diagrams.
Streaks
I learned through my time on Pokemon Go that streaks are one of the most simple and compelling game mechanics. For most , filling in a series of checkmarks throughout the week is enough to form a habit of at least launching an app - completionism is a powerful tool.
Streaks have always been tracked in Rocksmith+, however they were hidden in a submenu. Simply surfacing this info on the home page creates a subliminal call to action.
Tuning snappy satisfying animations was also key to make these changes compelling.
Most apps encourage a 7 day streak. Our use case was slightly unique, setting up an instrument is a much heavier lift than many of the comparative apps activities. This is especially for beginners, before calluses have formed. A more reasonable ask was to get players to log in 3 times a week, our streak meter is designed to scale, encouraging the player to reach 3 logins, then expanding to a full week for a bonus.
Main Path
Rocksmith+ already had a robust primary learning path, but it wasn’t being prominently promoted. We remedied this by creating top-level Call to Action access point, allowing players jump in where they left off directly from the Home Page.
Additionally, we created a notification / pop-up system to reinforce the immediate satisfaction of completing challenges and surface another Calls to Action by highlighting the next step for players clearly.
Daily Challenges
I worked closely with Engineering to expand the existing architecture used for our linear On Boarding Challenges to support a new programmatically generative Daily Task List.
This again harnesses the powerful motivation of completionism to reinforce a daily habit of login with carefully curated scalable challenges that present player with quick bitesized tasks.
Like all the retention features, punchy and satisfying animation was key.